MLB’s All-Star weekend is quickly approaching, and the brief break in play serves as something of a midseason checkpoint on the league calendar. As is the case each year, there have been some pleasant surprises throughout the campaign, as well as some major disappointments. We’re going to review some of both from the first half this week, starting with the bad news before reliving the highlights Thursday.New York MetsThe Mets are 15 games back in the NL East with the All-Star break approaching. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectIt’s been a disastrous season in Queens. After restocking the roster with some big names this offseason, bringing in the likes of Freddy Peralta, Bo Bichette, Luis Robert and Jorge Polanco, among others, the Mets have been the league’s most disappointing team. New York is the only team in the NL East sitting below .500, and they’re already 15 games out of the division lead and 11 games back in the wild card race. The team’s -60 run differential is tied for second-worst in the National League, and the offense ranks 29th in MLB with a .680 OPS. For a team with such lofty expectations, this season has gone about as poorly as possible, and the Mets could be staring down the barrel of some difficult decisions at the trade deadline. Cal RaleighIt’s been a tale of two seasons for Cal Raleigh. The Mariners catcher had the most prodigious power display by a catcher in MLB history in 2025 to finish as runner-up for the AL MVP award, but he looks like a shell of that version of himself in ‘26. After hitting 60 home runs and logging a .948 OPS last season, Raleigh has just nine home runs in 59 games and a woeful .573 OPS this year. It’s a seismic drop in production from Raleigh, who has struck out in 31.9% of his plate appearances and has seen his wRC+ fall by 92 points (161 last season versus 69 in ‘26). 2025 vs 2026 wRC+ Fallers pic.twitter.com/OIjvFGJRgu— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) July 7, 2026The American LeagueAt one point this season, there were as few as three American League teams with a winning record. That number has now increased to six—the Rays, Yankees, White Sox, Guardians, Mariners and Rangers—but the latter three of those are, at best, two games above .500. Meanwhile, the National League has nine teams with winning records, most of them comfortably so. If the season ended today, the final American League wild-card spot would be awarded to the Rangers, who are 46–45 on the year. In the NL, the final wild-card spot would go to the Marlins (50–42), while the Cardinals (47–43), Pirates (47–45) and Nationals (47–46), all of which at minimum are the same amount of games above .500 as Texas, would miss out. Last season’s ensemble of AL postseason teams consisted of the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Guardians, Tigers and Mariners. In 2026, those teams own a collective record of 269–278, with Detroit, Toronto and Boston all vastly underperforming. Detroit TigersThe Tigers are nine games below .500 with more than half the season in the books. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters ConnectThe preseason favorite to win the AL Central, Detroit is currently nine games below .500 at 41–50. The Tigers have the most blown leads in MLB (26) and have four relievers in the top 15 league-wide for blown saves––Kyle Finnegan (5), Will Vest (5), Kenley Jansen (4) and Drew Anderson (4). Their inability to smoothly turn the ball over to the bullpen has cost them big-time, and they’ve also had some lackluster production from key starters such as Framber Valdez and Jack Flaherty. Austin WellsThe Yankees have gotten very little offensively from their group of catchers, and Austin Wells is the main culprit behind that lack of production. Among MLB players with at least 150 plate apperances this season, Wells’s 35 wRC+ (yes, you read that correctly) is the worst in the sport. He’s been solid defensively, but his woes at the plate largely outweigh that. Wells has a .151 batting average and a dismal .475 OPS on the year. He’s striking out in a career-high 27.9% of his plate appearances and has just 27 hits in 61 games. Still, he remains the top catcher for the Yankees, though that should change come the trade deadline. Red Sox’ offenseFenway Park is traditionally a hitter’s park, but The Green Monster must look a bit larger than usual to the Red Sox hitters this year. Boston’s lineup has been one of MLB’s worst, and that’s translated to the worst record in the AL East. For a team that was hoping to fight for a wild-card berth, Boston finds itself 12 games out of the division lead and four games back of the final wild-card spot at 40–48. Only the Padres (352) and Guardians (363) have fewer runs scored than the Red Sox (365) and Boston’s 80 home runs are the fewest in the league. The pitching staff has been solid, as the team has surrendered the second-fewest runs (353) in the American League, but their lack of production from the lineup has plagued them. Players such as Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Trevor Story and Caleb Durbin have all been significant disappointments. San Francisco GiantsWith a new manager and a highly paid lineup, the Giants were hoping to compete for a spot in the postseason this year. Instead, they’ve limped to a 38–53 record and are considering blowing up the roster altogether. San Francisco has been outscored by 63 runs this season, and despite having a top-five team batting average (.256), Giants hitters rank 24th in on-base percentage (.308). The team’s highest-paid position players––Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman and Willy Adames—combine for just 2.5 fWAR, despite collecting a combined $83 million in the average annual value of their contracts. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has just four home runs this season, including none in Toronto. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectIn the second year of his $500 million contract, Guerrero has endured his worst season. The Blue Jays star has hit just four home runs and owns a .346 slugging percentage with a 96 wRC+, indicating he’s been a below-average hitter on the year. The Blue Jays have navigated a post-World Series hangover of sorts, but no one has had as significant a drop-off in production as Guerrero. He’s still seeing the ball well, walking in 10.6% of his plate appearances and striking out just 12.2% of the time, yet his batted ball metrics haven’t been as strong as they usually are. Padres’ offenseThe Padres’ offense has been woeful this year, logging a league-worst OPS of .671. Several of San Diego’s key position players are having down years, most notably Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill. Machado is batting .188 and has a .686 OPS with a wRC+ of 89. He hasn’t had a wRC+ below 110 since 2019, but he’s had a rough go of things this year despite hitting 18 home runs. Tatis has been plagued by bad luck and a sudden aversion to hitting the ball in the air. He has just five home runs on the year and a .384 slugging percentage, down from .446 last year and .492 in 2024. As for Merrill, his .629 OPS is down 145 points from last season, and he’s batting a career-low .218 with a 25.7% strikeout rate. Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth haven’t carried their weight, either.Things couldn’t be going much worse for the Padres (45–46) from an offensive standpoint, and it’s especially painful with so many of their veterans struggling.Nationals pitchersThe Nationals have outperformed their expectations in 2026––offensively, at least. Washington’s 500 runs scored are the most in MLB, with the likes of James Wood, Luis Garcia Jr. and CJ Abrams enjoying prolific seasons at the plate. It’s their pitching that’s been highly disappointing, however.Only the Rockies (533) and Athletics (494) have surrendered more runs than the Nationals (493) this year, and both of those teams play in home parks that are highly advantageous to hitters. The Nationals cannot say the same, and yet they’ve recorded a 4.80 ERA, fourth-worst in the majors. The bullpen has been handed a league-high 52 save opportunities and only converted 27 of them (tied for seventh), with their 25 blown saves being the most in the majors by far. If the Nationals had even an average pitching staff, they’d likely be in the thick of the NL East race (which has tightened up considerably over the last month). Instead, they’re 6 1/2 games back in the division and 3 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot while relying far too heavily on their lineup. The good news is the bullpen is the easiest part of a roster to upgrade midseason—but Washington’s current players need to demonstrate over the next few weeks that they’re a team worth buying for.More MLB from Sports IllustratedAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow